As part of the new family drama Viral Scandal, Maxene Magalona said her latest onscreen character is the perfect example of someone who has mental health struggles but is not aware of it.

“I play the role of Audrey Ramones and I play the perfect wife of Troy Ramones. Bilang perfect palagi si Audrey, sadly when people are too perfectionist, it causes a lot of mental health problems. So itong si Audrey meron siyang konting mental health issues that she is not aware of. She thinks she’s doing the right thing and she’s fighting for what’s right. So Audrey is a very strong personality and our entire family is very influential and powerful so it shows the dark side of humans, that we tend to deny. And that’s why I’m very, very proud to be part of this show that advocates strongly for mental health and how to deal with these issues that are brought about my mental health,” she said.

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Maxene said she is proud that her television comeback is with a show that tackles and advocates the issue of mental health and the dangers of social media.

“When I was first approached about this show, I didn’t know that it was an advocacy show. So when we first had our Zoom meeting and I found out that it was an advocacy show, sobrang tuwang tuwa ako kasi finally we will get to touch on these topics that society doesn’t really want to talk about and it’s not that we don’t want to talk about it, we don’t know how to start the conversation. So through shows like Viral Scandal, we will get to express and show characters like Audrey who in real life there are people who experience mental health problems who don’t even know they have. So that’s a clear example of Audrey Ramones represents in this show,” she explained.

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Maxene hoped the show can open up a more judgement-free discussion about mental health and why people shouldn’t be ashamed to be open about their own struggles.

“That’s why I’m so grateful that we’ll get to clear those stigmas about mental health, that we want to be able to speak normally about it, that mental health should not be something that we should be ashamed of. So that’s what we really want to show here on Viral Scandal. How people like Audrey Ramones deserve to be understood as well. how there are reasons why she turned out to be the way that she is, and that’s why in real life madami tayong nagkakaroon ng ganyang problema na hindi natin alam, mental health problem na pala. That’s why dito sa mga characters namin sa Ramones family especially, we are so blessed to be able to show these characters and breathe life into them. Para naman yung mga tao that are experiencing problems like they are on the show, siyempre dito sa show mas ini-exaggerate natin, mas pinapakita natin yung hindi talaga natin napapansin sa totoong buhay. Kaya sana mabigyan natin ng pag-asa yung mga taong katulad ng mga Ramones family na may pinagdadaanang sakit at suffering because of mental health,” she said.

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Viral Scandal also stars Charlie Dizon, Jake Cuenca, Dimples Romana, Joshua Garcia, Ria Atayde, Miko Raval, Jameson Blake, Markus Paterson, Aljon Mendoza, Karina Bautista, Louise Abuel, Kaila Estrada, Vance Larena, Gian Magdangal, Arielle Roces, and Aya Fernandez. Watch it on Kapamilya Channel, TV5, A2Z, Kapamilya Online Live, iWantTFC, and TFC IPTV.